Yemen president offers talks to southern opposition

Published March 9th, 2010 - 07:47 GMT

Yemen's president offered to hold talks with southern separatists and said the state would listen to their grievances, state media said on Tuesday.

Yemen's president offered to hold talks with southern separatists and said the state would listen to their grievances, state media said on Tuesday. "We say to them: Come talk with your brothers in the authority, and we will talk with you. We extend the hand of dialogue without (your) having to resort to violence or blocking roads or raising the flag of separation," President Ali Abdullah Saleh said in an address at a military academy.

"I am certain the flags of separation will burn in the days and weeks ahead. We have one flag we voted on with our free will. We welcome any political demands. Come to dialogue," he said.

In his lecture to the students of the Higher Military Academy in Sana'a, Saleh said that "if anyone wants power, he could have it via door not window," adding the power is available for all by elections box.